Why me?
by khooxp
Summary: Bryan wonders why his captain chose to stay with the Blitzkrieg boys instead of Kai, and with the help of his captain, he gets the answers. In Bryan's point of view. It's kind of sweet! Oneshot.


XP: BryanTala fic! How rare for me~ I hope you like it!

**Dedicated to pheonix09, my loyal reviewer :)**

_It's written in Bryan's point of view, by the way!_**  
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_*****start*****_

It was the morning after we came back from Japan

Tala had chosen to stay with us instead of in Japan with that Hiwatari bastard.

I have to say I'm relieved,

Noticing my staring, Tala turned and raised an eyebrow at me, a light smirk gracing his face.

"And what are you looking at, retard?" Tala snorted in amusement.

"Your handsome face, of course," I replied with a mocking voice.

"Why, thank you," Tala accepted my lie smoothly, looking at me knowingly.

Because whenever I thought about him in his presence, I tended to stare at him.

Oh well. But I had dreaded the moment, feared that when Kai opened his rich mouth to ask, Tala would eagerly say yes. But no, Tala had smiled and shook his head lightly, saying he needed to take care of us BRATS. I was too happy to get angry over that though. And Kai merely grunted and left, slightly disappointed.

_HA, HA, HA!_

In your face! Tala's ours!

A white ceramic cup filled with coffee slid over from the other side of the table, and I looked up to see Tala's face partially obscured by the newspaper, a smirk on his face as bright blue eyes stared at me, trying to figure me out. I accepted the coffee and drank from it. Sugar free, bitter as hell, just as I liked it. Tala was stirring god knows how many sugars into his.

"Thinking about my choice?" Tala guessed with scary perception. He always read all of us like an open book, except maybe Kai, who well, most probably didn't understand what he himself was thinking, so, meh.

Tala grinned when he saw what he wanted, my look of awe mixed with a bit of being creeped out. That meant he was right.

"Continue to ponder, then," Tala said lightly, lifting the papers up to cover his face.

To be honest, I always thought Tala preferred Kai over us. Kai was a fucking talented genius, I know that. He was to Tala's standard in beyblading, to his wit, and attuned to his secret faces and language. They knew each other so well, they coordinated so well, they just... matched each other and belonged together like perfect opposite parts of themselves, fire and ice. When Tala was with Kai, they needed no words. Looks, body language, they read each other well.

Tala always tried to spend more time with Kai. Tala was the saddest when Kai left the abbey. Tala cared a lot about Kai. And Kai cared mostly about Tala, ignoring other Blitzkrieg boys most of the time. I knew Tala would lay his life down for Kai in a heartbeat, and I wouldn't know about Kai, but he'd fight pretty damn hard for Tala and burn the world world if needed to.

I resented Kai, resented how they matched, how they were so close. I was envious, jealous even, watching this grandson of Voltaire capture our captain's attention. Tala never minded physical contact, while Kai hated it. But, Kai seemed fine with Tala. There were little touches, a hand on the shoulder, a pat on the back, teasing ruffling of hair, that Kai never minded. In fact, he seemed to enjoy these little bits of attention Tala showered on him, though he'd never say it.

Whenever I saw them together, fury blinded me, and it made me sick to the pits of my stomach!

Without me noticing, a slender hand approached my face and prodded lightly at my forehead with a long finer. "You're going to get wrinkles, Bryan," Tala said dryly, he's glimmering with that amusement still. In my deep thinking about Kai, I had started to tense up and clench my fist, face scrunching up in rage. Tala's hand slipped over to my clenched fist and slowly eased it open, and I let him, seeing small bloody indents caused by my nails on my palm. Soon, my whole body relaxed, and I slouched like a deflated balloon.

"Better," Tala murmured, fingers lightly trailing over the scars.

I looked away from him awkwardly. I wasn't touchy-feely , but with Tala, it was different. All of us wanted his attention and care.

Tala's eyes flickered up, and he gave me a playful smile. He knew.

Tala read people well, much better than anyone, even Rei or Kai.

He got up from his seat from the opposite end of the table, left his paper folded on the table for Spencer to read later when he woke up, but took his coffee cup. He strode over to the chair beside me, gently setting the cup down before plopping down, resting his arms of the table. He was so close I could feel the coolness of his skin, Tala always felt cold. His lowered his head and rested it on his folded arms, closing his eyes, resting. He subtly shifted a bit closer, until his left side of his body stuck to the warmth of my right side.

He was giving me what I craved, but was too proud to ask for, letting me continue my thoughts.

I always thought what was so good about that Hiwatari. He was just a rich bastard, or that was what I tried to convince myself. He was skilled, he was smart, and he understood Tala. I couldn't deny all those. And thinking about it, Kai never ever betrayed Tala up for beatings, like what I did. I betrayed him to save my own selfish ass. Granted, I didn't know who Tala was at the time, and he probably never knew who got him into trouble.

* * *

****In the abbey years ago****

"Pssst! I'm going now, who else wanna come?" A slender, but messy looking boy whispered across our cells. He had long. matted black hair that seemed greasy and unwashed, freckles on his cheeks, and an impish grin. He was going to steal beer from the guards, which he was infamous for.

"I'm in." I stepped forward first. Two more boys joined in. In the dark, I couldn't see them very well, and since I only knew some people, I didn't know what they looked like.

Only afterwards did I know them. One was Ian, one was Tala.

So we all snuck out of the cells, which was pointless, the cells had large gaps between the bars that every kid could squeeze through, except maybe Spencer. That guy was huge. However, those who tried to escape never came back, or were killed in various sickening methods before us, until almost all of us feared sneaking out.

I said almost, because I'm here along the dark hallway, aren't I?

The tiny figure snuck behind me, while I followed our makeshift leader, the dirty boy. The other boy must've taken up the rear. We went quietly, footsteps making no sound, as we reached the control room. We snuck in, and I suppose, luck wasn't on our side.

Boris was freaking inside, and the lights were on, making us blinded momentarily and confused.

**BANG!**

Blood splattered on my face as our leader fell down with a head shot.

Someone screamed, and I was pushing them past the door, running away.

But I knew Boris saw my face.

I was isolated into the well known soliditary cell the next day. The guards came and took me away, and when I struggled in vain, I caught the frightened glances from the twerp and the redhaired boy. And from their figure, I recognized them as the two from the previous night.

I expected to die, and I was praying for a quick death. They shut me in there for hours and hours, and my thoughts whirled crazily around my head until I felt I was turning insane. That was when Boris came in, watching me curl up in the corner, staring up at the white ceiling, as white as everything else, mumbling something to myself.

"Bryan."

I scrambled to my feet immediately, standing as straight as I could. Color. There was color on Boris!

"Bryan, if you tell me who the other two boys were, you'll just get off with a light beating," Boris smirked.

Really?

Such an easy thing?

"The tiny twerp, his name started with an I or something," I began. "Wait. You're not mindfucking me, right?"

"Hmm. I am not lying about your punishment. Who's the other boy?" Boris pressed.

Well, I said it. Of course I said it. Imagine, you were a boy stuck in the abbey. You would betray some other kid to save your own hide, EVEN IF they were completely innocent.

"The one with red hair and-" ...pretty "blue eyes," I said quickly. "Some girly name. Ta...Tada? I dunno," I shrugged.

"I see. Tala and Ian," Boris's face twisted into something cruel. "Thank you, Bryan. Guards, rough him up a little and chain him to the corner. One of you get Ian and Tala."

Of course, Tala and Ian didn't know they hadn't been seen. Ian was covered by Bryan's body, since he was tiny, but he thought he was seen. Tala thought that maybe he left a strand of hair or something, he was the only boy with red hair after all.

Tala and Ian were flung in, and they both quickly got up to their feet, backs ramrod straight, glancing quickly at Bryan to see him bloody and bruised.

"Is there something wrong sir?" Tala asked politely, his face a mask of calm, compared to Ian, who was sending scared looks to Bryan.

"Yes, of course there is. The guards informed me that their alcohol supply was diminishing," A look of disgust crossed Boris's face at the idea of them drinking on the job. "So I went there last night, and you guys fell right into the trap."

Boris took a menacing step forward, and Tala pushed Ian lightly behind him. Boris cackled, "Why, Tala, playing hero again?"

Tala's eyes merely glowered with hatred, fury blue eyes centered on Boris's ugly smirk. "Ian had never stolen before," Tala insisted, "It was his first time, and since he didn't get the goods, why punish him?"

"You're trying to be a hero, aren't you?" Boris grinned. "Well, being caught sneaking around at night obviously has repercussions."

Everything was a lie. Ian had stolen so many times before. It was Tala who went there for the first time. The other boys sometimes brought goods back and they shared it, but Tala was not fond of the idea of going out of the way to get vodka, to have temporary satisfaction and a major migraine the next day. Boris had no way to prove it though.

Boris backhanded Tala roughly, sending the skinny boy flying to the wall, crashing painfully. Tala immediately got up on shaky feet as Boris advanced towards Ian.

And Tala made a decision that would cause him nightmares for life.

"I'll take his punishments for him!" Tala blurted, looking worriedly at Ian, who was trembling in fear.

"Good, I was just waiting for that," Boris confided, eyes lighting up evilly. "Guards. Send Ian and Bryan back to their cells. And take Tala to the Human Research Centre."

Human... Research Centre...

All of the boys paled. That was where the pain hurt the most, as fluids were injected roughly into them with chemicals, burning them from inside out, where the most boys died...

"Tala, don't be stupid! Take it back! I can deal with it, don't go there!" Ian said desperately as he was dragged out of the room.

I honestly felt guilty, but hey, every man for himself. I saved my own hide before. I had given names of countless smug abbey boys. But I'd never betrayed a boy who saved others, thought of others before himself. I was plagued by a guilty conscience, so much so that I couldn't sleep. Ian was constantly having nightmares and finding Spencer for comfort, because he kept thinking of what they did to Tala.

And when Tala came back, everyone stared at him in shock.

Gone was the warm, friendly boy everyone looked up to. In its place was a cold, emotionless face, a body covered by countless scars, skin pale to the degree of translucent, and he was so skinny bones jutted out from him. He was thrown into the cell, and he just laid there in a heap, unmoving. Then he started to spasm in pain and cough out blood, and everyone rushed to him, forming a worried circle around the fragile boy.

"Tala?" Spencer called, turning Tala over to stare into hollow eyes, with pupils so light, it was almost white, different from the bright blue it had once been.

"Who... are.. you?" Tala rasped out.

****End of flashback****

* * *

It had taken weeks before Tala started to remember things and people. Everyone gave him a larger portion of things, food, water, and tried to speed his recovery up, constantly talking to him about what happened in the past. But Tala never slept without waking up screaming, had never smiled again...

Never smiled until Kai was transferred into our cell.

But that was my fault wasn't it? I robbed Tala of his smile because of my selfishness. Because of my cowardice.

Tala turned his head from his folded arms, looking at me with curious blue eyes. "Bryan? You done thinking yet?"

"... Bryan?" Tala asked softly, sitting up and staring at my depressed look. He reached over and gently wiped off the imaginary tears I would not shed with his thumbs. I leaned into his touch.

"I don't deserve you, Tala."

"Rubbish," Tala snorted.

"No, really. That day you were taken off to the HRC, it was because I-" I stammered, trying to confess, afraid he would hate me, but he needed to know what I did. He was so nice to me. I couldn't do this to him.

"I know," Tala said suddenly.

"...Huh?" I blinked.

"You told on me," Tala said lightly. "It's okay. You didn't know what would happen to me. You didn't even know me back then. I was just a random boy that could save your life by taking the crime."

"Tala... I'm... I'm sorry," I tried, and he chuckled slightly.

"I've never blamed you, Bryan," Tala looked into my eyes sincerely. "So stop beating yourself up over it. It was just the circumstances. I would kill countless abbey boys if it meant protecting my team, you know."

"But it's different. I did it for myself. I-"

"Shh. It's over now. You know you've changed. You know you'd protect us now, you know you'd live for other people," Tala shushed, speaking to me in low, comforting tones as he pulled me close and wrapped his arms around me.

"Why did you stay with us? Why didn't you go with Kai?" I asked in confusion.

"Silly!" Tala laughed, letting go of me to look me in the eye with a humorous glint in his blue eyes. "I love you stupid brats. Kai can take care of himself just fine, but you guys would never make it without me."

"But Kai-"

"My team who was been through thick and thin with me, who was always there for me, _unlike Kai_," Tala gave me an amused look, like he knew I was jealous, "is more precious to me."

"But you and Kai-"

"Yes, me and Kai understand each other to a scary degree, so it's fun as we can mess around with people's heads, but I prefer to live with the brand of fun Blitzkrieg Boys provide. The random, unpredictable one where all kinds of shit happens," Tala grinned as a frustrated look came on my face from being cut off.

"But then-"

"My team never intentionally betrayed me, would never ever leave my side, and would not divulge secrets even when under bribes of power," Tala continued, eyes sparkling. "Convinced yet, Bryan?"

...Yes.

Thinking back about it, our team was so much more loyal and trustworthy than Hiwatari, and we weren't as stuck up and cold, and we ignored all rules and did whatever the hell we wanted! And that Hiwatari did keep leaving our team for Tyson, and did get lured by Black Dranzer, unlike all of us, who'd never ever be in the same team as that japanese brat over our dead body.

Tala started to laugh at the triumph look that crossed my face. "My god, Bryan, you can be so stupid and innocent sometimes."

I pretended to be offended.

"It's kinda cute," Tala beamed, looking at me with warmth in his blue eyes, making me cough and glance to the side awkwardly.

Tala snickered, stood up and ruffled my hair, and left the room. "Spencerrrr! I'm hungry!" Tala hollered. "I don't care if you're fucking jetlagged, I'm gonna go to your room and jump on you till you wake!"

I fucking loved my captain.

Suddenly, what Tala said sinked in.

I'm not _cute_!

Growling, I went to find Tala.

****End****

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XP: It's kinda fun to write as Bryan!

How was it? :)


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